Atlus > Square Enix?

I was just thinking, Squaresoft (well, square enix now) had a huge run of great games. If you play the ps1, all the amazing RPG's are square. There's not a bad one among them, Xenogears, Vagrant Story etc.

You move onto ps2 and there's less good ones, but a lot of gems still. Of course, there's Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and KH etc etc.

But I've been looking at review sites, and most of Squares new, non FF games have been pretty lame, getting averages of 6.5-7.5

And then I look at Atlus. Atlus has been around for awhile, but it's really getting big now. They've released the most (and best) RPG's on DS, and I personally believe that the Shin Megami Tensei series (I had only heard about it recently) is better than final fantasy.

I was just thinking, 6 years from now, is Square Enix just gonna be a big game company, but Atlus is going to be the shining hope for RPG gamers?

Just got me curious, I never thought Square would be overtaken in the RPG department.

Atlus provides the best in Japanese RPGs, anyway. That's still not too great when compared to the best in western RPGs, but the Atlus games can actually be GOOD GAMES. And, when you compare that to the company that uses a list of tropes as a checklist in every design document, you're of course going to think they're a godsend.

Oh, I pretty much meant JRPG's. There's a lot more of them out there than western rpg's, especially on the consoles. Still, Bioware has been making some kickass titles recently, and Bethesda is ok... sorta.

I only knew about the SMT series recently, and I prefer it over FF. The only problem is that they have a much bigger time investment, like 40+ hours of grinding. Still, they're good if you're in the mood.

Atlus is also porting a lot more japanese games over and publishing them in English too.

They're mostly a publisher, they don't really make any games. That's why they have good games like Trauma Center, as well as crap like Etrian Oddysey. (an RPG with no story or memorable characters? What?!!)

@natlinxz said: They're mostly a publisher, they don't really make any games. That's why they have good games like Trauma Center, as well as crap like Etrian Oddysey. (an RPG with no story or memorable characters? What?!!)

Thats not true. Trauma Center was developed by Atlus, and Etrian Odyssey was part developed by Atlus. Megami Tensei series is also developed by Atlus.

You're right on the part that Atlus America is just a publisher though. Atlus Japan on the other hand are a fully fledged developer.

@natlinxz said: They're mostly a publisher, they don't really make any games. That's why they have good games like Trauma Center, as well as crap like Etrian Oddysey. (an RPG with no story or memorable characters? What?!!)

I haven't actually played Etrian Odyssey, so I can't speak directly on its behalf, even though I was looking forward to it and then the title sort of fell off to the wayside. But I've played many RPGs with little or no story that I've considered to be "good". Surprisingly enough, a game is not defined by a story, as hard as that is for some people to understand. Games are not a narrative medium by nature. I never needed a story to enjoy Go, Risk, Carcassonne, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, et cetera. Etrian Odyssey, from what I can tell, is more a love letter to the dungeon crawlers past than something made for gamers today, because from what I've seen it really echoes Wizardry and Might & Magic in terms of gameplay.

Games actually tend to center around GAMEPLAY. This modern gamer disposition that games should be interactive player-coddling storybooks is really annoying.

Oh, and at least according to the Wikipedia which we all know is completely accurate all the time, Atlus did develop Etrian Odyssey.

Side Note: The Oddworld games have forever marred my spelling of the word "Odyssey", and only my browser's built-in spellcheck saves me from putting an odd spin on it.

Etrian Odyssey is actually pretty good. I only got up to the second strata due to it's crushing difficulty, but it's by no means a bad game. You pretty much form a party of up to 5 warriors and venture into this dungeon, and you map it as you go.

There isn't a story but it's just a dungeon crawler game with a shitload of character customization. Only problem is that you have to level up for ages due to it's insane difficulty level. Pretty much, it's a western RPG with JRPG character art, but no cutscenes or anything. Like one of those retro rpg's.

I think Square Enix is more of a publisher than atlus. Atlus developed Persona 4, but it was published in Europe by Square Enix.

I'm pretty sure Atlus developed the ps3 game Demon Souls, which according to gamespot is the best rpg of 2009. However, no-one is publishing it in Europe as of this date.....

I'd say Rather Dashing is right about story sometimes being overrated, but I think what people refer to with "good writing" and such falls into a lot of categories. Just recently, I played the Unreal Tournament 3 mod The Ball, and it has such a well-developed atmosphere that even without words it seems to tell a very interesting, yet vague, story of its own (of course they ruined that with tomes telling of an ancient civilization in the newer episodes)